Whether you’re starting an online business or you run a local brick-and-mortar store, you need digital marketing. It can help put you on the map much faster and draw a wider audience in.
Nowadays, no matter what products or services people need, they look them up on their phones to find the best option near them. If you’re not online, or you are but your online image is poor, they’ll skip you in favor of your competitor, even if you’re much better at what you do.
It’s all about how you build your online presence, so here are some tips to help you out.
Keep Your Google My Business Updated
If you think having a website is enough, you’re sorely mistaken. One of the best free tools local businesses can utilize is the Google My Business platform. When you set up a business profile here, you set yourself up for growth.
This Google business listing helps you get your business on the map of other local businesses. So when someone searches for the products or services you offer in the area, your profile will appear in the search results. It’s a free tool, and it’s incredibly powerful.
Just make sure to fill in all the details meticulously and update the profile frequently to reflect any changes in the way you work.
Get Active on Social Media
After following a brand on social media, 89% of users will buy from it and over 90% will continue to engage with the business in numerous ways. Social media platforms are one of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal to reach a wide customer base and maintain a connection.
However, it’s not enough to just create a profile and post once in a blue moon. You need to post relevant and engaging content regularly so that your followers remain interested. What’s more, people love communicating with businesses through social media, so make sure to answer any questions and not have your followers wait forever for you to respond.
Nurture Customer Relationships
Did you know that customer retention can be up to 25 times cheaper than acquiring new customers? It pays off to keep your existing clients in the loop, remind them how great you are, and present them with offers they can’t refuse.
One way to foster customer relationships is to use email marketing. You can use email marketing to send content they might find engaging, to promote special offers and discounts, offer promo codes as a reward for their loyalty, and much more.
You can even ask for their phone numbers and use an SMS marketing campaign as people are more likely to read a text as soon as they get it.
Make Your Site SEO-Friendly
As a local business, you can use paid ads to target a specific demographic in your area for best results. However, organic reach is much better than paid reach, as the former is long-lasting. That’s why you need to optimize your website for SEO so that it shows high up in the search results.
Some of the most important aspects of good SEO include:
- Fast loading speed
- Readability
- Keyword optimization
- Internal and external links
- Responsive design
- Mobile compatibility, etc.
By optimizing your website, you appeal to the search engine, but you should also think about the user experience (UX) of your site. UX is both an SEO factor (helps you rank high) and the element that makes the user stay.
Have Relevant Content
Content rules the internet, and it can do so much for your business. Apart from putting you on the map, high-quality content can establish you as an authority source in your field of expertise. As a local business, you can create locally relevant content, e.g., write posts based on local news stories and events. This kind of blog post (or other forms) can set you apart from other similar businesses.
According to experienced SEO consultant Leslie Gilmour, it’s better to have longer content forms, e.g., around 2,000 words, use short and concise paragraphs, and make the content interesting and informative.
Analyze Your Data and Refine Your Strategy
The best part about digital marketing is that you can let data lead the way. In other words, you don’t have to make rough estimates about what works and what doesn’t. You can simply look at the data and derive useful insights from it.
There are various tools that can help you collect relevant data on your digital marketing efforts, most notably Google Analytics. You can select a few data points, i.e., your key performance indicators (KPIs), and monitor them to determine the success of your strategy.
Social media platforms also allow you to monitor your stats, so make sure to use that function to your advantage.
Digital marketing can help you grow your business drastically in a short time, so follow these tips and let them do their magic.
